Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation Cover Letter
April 20, 2016
Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
44 Montgomery Street, Suite 1970
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 989-9839
RE: Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation for Education Program Priorities
Dear Sir/Madame:
Thank you for considering this proposal for program support of the student-run nonprofit organization Sprout Up. We believe Sprout Up qualifies under the Education Program Priorities area of your foundation, as we provide environmental education to first and second grade classrooms in public schools throughout California and our recently added chapters in New York City.
We ask for $10,000 in order to expand our programs to the San Jose/Silicon Valley area. Our environmental education programs are highly beneficial in providing children with a desire for environmental stewardship in the earliest phase of their educational development, and provide our student instructors with hands on experience and skills in teaching and environmental outreach.
I hope that you will be able to help Sprout Up expand its programs and continue its success in environmental education. If you have any further questions or require additional materials, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached by phone at (805) 722-0415 or by email at [email protected].
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Iulia Roman
Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
44 Montgomery Street, Suite 1970
San Francisco, CA 94104
(415) 989-9839
RE: Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation for Education Program Priorities
Dear Sir/Madame:
Thank you for considering this proposal for program support of the student-run nonprofit organization Sprout Up. We believe Sprout Up qualifies under the Education Program Priorities area of your foundation, as we provide environmental education to first and second grade classrooms in public schools throughout California and our recently added chapters in New York City.
We ask for $10,000 in order to expand our programs to the San Jose/Silicon Valley area. Our environmental education programs are highly beneficial in providing children with a desire for environmental stewardship in the earliest phase of their educational development, and provide our student instructors with hands on experience and skills in teaching and environmental outreach.
I hope that you will be able to help Sprout Up expand its programs and continue its success in environmental education. If you have any further questions or require additional materials, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached by phone at (805) 722-0415 or by email at [email protected].
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Iulia Roman
LOI Application: Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation
Project Name* Character Limit: 250
Expanding Sprout Up’s Environmental Education Programs to San Jose/Silicon Valley Area
Project Description* Character Limit: 2000
Sprout Up provides free, youth-led environmental education programs to public first and second grade classrooms throughout California and in our brand new chapters in New York City. We provide weekly classroom workshops for eight weeks periods to connect children with their environment and help build a more sustainable world for future generations.
Sprout Up’s unique curriculum was developed in consultation with a number of environmental science and education experts, and introduces children to vital concepts of sustainability in a way that is fun and meaningful. Each lesson begins with a simple game or song based on the day’s topic, then the class breaks into small groups for a deeper discussion. Afterwards, the class explores the lesson through a specific subject, like math, history, or music, connecting the everyday lives of the students with the environment. At the end of the lesson, the students review the lesson by working on Nature Journal activities.
Through our programs, first graders learn to appreciate and understand the natural world, while second graders are taught skills to go home and care for nature. Our curriculum aligns with Common Core State Standards, as well as environmental principles laid out by the California Education & the Environment Initiative.
The students are taught by teams of highly trained college students, many of whom are studying education or environmental studies. The instructors are able to provide hands-on experience and also contribute to society in a meaningful way. They teach with an incredible enthusiasm that brings the material to life for children, their families, and therefore our community.
Amount Requested* Character Limit: 20
$10,000
Grant Program Area* Please select the program area of your request.
Choices
Music Education Environment and Health
Purpose* Please briefly state the purpose and scope of the project. Character Limit: 3000
In a time when public elementary schools are seeing unprecedented cuts to their budgets, particularly for introductory science, we provide much-needed capacity for public schools to teach the subject in a way that resonates. With the help of the Clarence E. Heller Charitable Foundation, we hope to expand our programs to include the San Jose/Silicon Valley area so that more students of varying socioeconomic background can have the opportunity to learn about the importance of cherishing our environment. By training the next generation of environmental stewards, we are able to make a number of positive impacts in our communities. Such impacts include, but are not limited to:
- Providing children with environmental education in order to foster their environmental stewardship in their earliest phases of educational development. Sprout Up kids graduate from the programs feeling excited and empowered to make a difference—from shopping with reusable bags to turning off lights and appliances, using less water and carpooling to reduce emissions.
- Bringing environmental education to children from a range of cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds by eliminating the cost barrier for our programs. By providing our program to schools completely free of charge, we are able to reach a diverse and representative group of children.
- Getting children to think about the world that surrounds them in new ways and inspire them to bring the message of environmental stewardship home to their families and friends. Each week we provide our students with a take-home activity to bring back to their parents and siblings with important messages we deliver in the classroom.
- Giving college students hands on experience in teaching and environmental outreach that they can use in their future careers and providing them with a meaningful contribution to their community.
To evaluate the new programs and their effectiveness, we will use a similar approach used to evaluate our current chapters. The Sprout Up team will measure program success by how many classrooms and children we reach each year in each of our chapters and the socioeconomic status of the school and its location.
Background information* Please briefly describe the background information of your organization. Character Limit: 3000
Sprout Up was founded in 2009 by a team of college students at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Since then, we have expanded from one classroom in Santa Barbara, to teaching in more than 100 classrooms during the 2013-2014 school year alone. We currently run chapters in San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Davis, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, and just last year we added two chapters in New York City. Through these programs and our unique curriculum, we have engaged more than 5,500 1st and 2nd grade students (ages 6 to 8) through over 500 college student volunteers to date.
Sprout Up has received significant recognition over the last five years, including winning the $100,000 grand prize in a Facebook contest sponsored by Dockers in 2010, being featured on national television as a finalist in VH1’s Do Something Awards in 2012 and again on NBC as a finalist in the Chase American Giving Awards in 2013. We continue to build momentum, and now have a long queue of teachers in each of our cities waiting to bring the program to their schools. We're limited only by our ability to cover the cost of program materials and coordination.
As we enter the next stage of our organizational development, we're seeking to build capacity and organizational sustainability to meet this growing demand in our existing chapters, and to expand into new cities in California and beyond. Sprout Up has a strong and growing presence in the Bay Area and are deeply invested in the local community there. All three of Sprout Up’s co-founders were born and raised in the Bay Area and believe that programs like Sprout Up are greatly needed in nearby public schools. We already operate two of our most successful chapters in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, but, with your generous contribution, we hope to expand our programs to the San Jose/Silicon Valley area. We look forward to hearing from you and to working together to advance environmental education programs.
Project Budget* note: budget not attached